1. Germany (March)
I booked my plane ticket eight days prior in a late night, impulsive decision. The first night, I was up for nearly eight hours having an anxiety attack about not only using a train for the first time in my life, but I'd be alone and I spoke almost no German. And after asking my friend if we could meet later, I finally got some sleep, and tackled that big 'ol ball of anxiety by taking the train. And I played English-to-German charades with only approximately five people along the way, to make sure I was taking the right ones. It was an amazing experience, because my comfort zone was so far out of reach and by the end, I didn't feel like I needed it anymore. I had just done something that I didn't understand or have any experience in, and I figured it out with the help of many kind strangers.
2. Graduation (May)
School is my one true love, and I never dreamed that I would leave it. I thought I would be a student for as long as possible, then become a professor. And while that is essentially the plan, the break after undergrad was not. In November 2015, I made the decision not to apply for grad school for the following fall, because I didn't know exactly what I wanted to study. And I knew I wanted to go to law school, but I hadn't taken the LSATs and I wanted to really ace them. So when graduation came along, and everyone kept asking me what I was doing next, I felt terrible. I felt like a failure. I felt like there was no good reason for me to change the plan (even though there were many good reasons). And it took me months, nearly a year from my decision, for me to realize why the plan had to change [read about that here: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/what-learned-since-graduation], and it wasn't so scary anymore.
3. Stopped being Vegetarian (June)
In 9th grade, I had gone through an emo phase that lasted only a few months, but as I transitioned out of the Tripp pants, I got new friends, dyed my hair, and went vegetarian. And these aspects stayed pretty similar as I continued to grow throughout high school and college. However, following graduation, I knew I wanted to travel and experience all of the delicacies of foreign nations, so when I booked my next trip, I ate a chicken wing for dinner. I hesitated though, because vegetarianism had been a part of me for so long. But that chicken wing was so good. And I reminded myself that I can always go back if I so choose to. What I eat does not and should not define me.
4. Europe (July)
I did a group tour through London, Paris, and Amsterdam, and although the spontaneity of the trip was dim compared to my first international trip to Germany earlier in the year, it was still scary to go across the world, where I knew no one. (You can read about my experience here: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/why-decided-group-tour-alone) Along the way, I met some lovely people and became comfortable roaming the cities by myself. However, after almost landing in the hospital with heat stroke on the first night, I learned that there are some situations that, despite tackling this trip on my own, I needed to lean on others. Of course, I leaned on my mother, who was back home, and not my peers on the trip, but this lesson will likely be applied at another date.
5. Got my own place (Dec)
At the beginning of the month, I signed a lease for a place nearly two hours from home, and it is the scariest adventure I've gone on yet. I've lived alone before, for three months, and absolutely hated it. Here, I have a few more friends, and a lot more to do, but it still terrifies me to think about how badly I could screw it up. I'll be here the entirety of 2017, and I guess we'll see on what adventure I continue to then. No doubt it will be terrifying as well. But I'll figure it out.
